The 2022 debut from this Chicago-based neoclassical melodic death metal act, Rex Mortem, was a fine example of a blind promo grab and review, and added to that year’s melodic death metal revival. So I have been eagerly awaiting a follow-up. And here it is. For those unfamiliar, the band began as a more metalcore/progressive […]

Decaying Human is a young Indonesian brutal death metal band that reactivated last year, after forming in 2021, but was dormant. Brian, owner of Ossuary Industries, knows brutal death metal and has his ear to the scene morning, noon and night, kinda like this fella, right here. There are all forms of extreme metal and […]

I’ve heard some weird shit this year, admittedly, I hear weird shit every year because that’s what I look for on promo day. Weird shit. Well, I got super excited this last time because guess what I got? The promo from the Czechian legends, Master’s Hammer, entitled Maldorör Disco… YEAH, BOY! I’m about to admit […]

If you, like me, were just a tad underwhelmed with Binah’s recent comeback effort, Onkos, (especially after an 8-year wait). I might have a bit of a stand-in album for you. Heteropsy is the side project of Japan’s Frostvore, who released one of the better Swedish/HM2 death metal homages in 2020s, Drowned In Blood. They […]

Comatose Music is killing it towards the end of 2025 with quality brutal death metal releases. Massachusetts-based brutal slam/death metal act Dysentery has not released an album in 10 years. The last one was their third album- the absolutely savage, Fragments. I’ve known vocalist Scott Savaria and guitarist Peter “Blue” Spinazola (Fit for an Autopsy) […]

I’ll confidently put Binah’s debut Hallucinating in Resurrecture as one of the best albums in the Swedish death metal revival of the last 10-15 years, up there with the likes of Entrails’ first few efforts, Disfuneral, Abscession, Necrom, Horrendous, and Demonical’s albums, and a slew of others. However, the follow-up, Phobiate, must not have resonated […]

Demoniacal Genuflection was a death metal band based out of Houston, Texas, who released a series of splits, demos, and one full-length album in their ten-year existence. The band called it quits in 2015. This compilation titled Darker Lamentation contains their 2010 debut album The Ministers of Lamentation and four songs which were included on […]

Hello! Welcome to my review of the brand spanking new Testament album entitled Parabellum. I plan on being as fair as possible. This is their fourteenth album, so they have a sizeable back catalog to compare Para Bellum with previous albums. The first thing I notice right off the bat is the amount of blast […]

Germany’s bludgeoners of death, Stillbirth, return with Survival Protocol, their ninth full-length studio effort and debut for Reigning Phoenix Music. Their albums have run the gamut of brutal death metal, deathcore, to even smatterings of technical death metal. The one thing I really like about Stillbirth, is that they have improved their sound and style […]

I last sang the praises of Mystic Circle in 2023 for the brutal beating that is Erzdämon, and they’ve been covered previously by our own El Jefe for Mystic Circle back in 2022. Hexenbrand 1486 sees the band once again flexing their Symphonic Black Metal muscles. This is album eleven for these unholy Germans, and […]

Defigurement is a brutal new Californian technical death metal act featuring some well-known band members, including Mike Heller (Azure Emote, Black Hole Deity) on drums, Kevin Fetus on guitars, DMT on bass/vocals, and Matthias Joyce on vocals. Endbryo is their debut album with 16 songs, some of which are interludes, all in under thirty minutes. […]

The first time I talked about Hammerfilosofi was for their EP Solus last year, and now they’re back with a soul shredding new album called Signum. Eight tracks of well-crafted blasphemy that surpass what they’ve done to this point. Signum sees the band flexing their muscles in the most Marduk way possible, and that’s from […]

Occasionally, believe it or not, I listen to things other than deathcore, death metal, or symphonic black metal. Yep- even I have to have a palate cleanser or reset or guilty pleasure, or whatever you want to call it. And for me, it’s super cheesy power metal. And not normal power metal- I fall hard […]

Well, now, friends. What we have here is a swollen, pus-oozing freak of nature. A demon from the foulest depths of Hell, ugly and mutated beyond all imagination; something straight out of an H.P. Lovecraft book. Of course, I’m talking about the new Chained to the Dead… what did you think I was talking about? […]

When it comes to regional, geographical sounds and styles in metal, except maybe Stockholm, I don’t think there is any more distinct and recognizable sound than the New Orleans/Louisiana sound; Crowbar, Down, Eyehategod, Thou, Soilent Green, Acid Bath, Goatwhore, etc. That swampy, moist, fuzzy sound. You know it. So when I got a promo for […]

Comatose Music is back with another brutal death metal release, this time, it’s American act Vulnificus, with their debut album Inclination. The band has released a few prior EPs/comps/splits and is now poised to take the next step. Vocaslist Eston Browne, I’ve known for quite some time. He was on the scorching Gigan album Multi-Dimensional […]

So I wrote a draft of a review for Last Retch‘s Abject Cruelty, but decided to let fellow scribe J Mays handle it. But I still gave that album lots of spins. So, when I got the promo for Montreal’s Scorching Tomb, also a Canadian death metal band on the Italian label Time To Kill […]

Any band, fan, or reader of my reviews knows I love all forms of extreme music, and when it comes to death metal, yes, I will admit to saying the scene is way too saturated with a bajillion bands. I do, however, love a lot of the new bands. When it comes to extreme music, […]

Centinex has been spreading OSSDM (Old School Swedish Death Metal) to the masses since 1991 with their aptly titled Stupid Humanity demo, it came out the year I graduated, as a matter of fact. Now that I’m feeling old as fuck, I’m loving the nostalgia brought on with their amazing new album, With Guts and […]

Argesk is a symphonic black metal band hailing from Manchester, England, and they should be on you radar if you are a fan of one of the UK’s more prominent bands in the genre, Hecate Enthroned, as Argesk features former Hecate drummer Bob Kendrick, who played on lauded albums such as Redimus, Kings Of Chaos, Dark […]

When I picked this album, I didn’t have a clue what it would sound like. I love Americana (Bluegrass), whatever the fuck you want to call it, being born in Kentucky I was kind of immersed in it and old school Country, and before I get hate mail (there’s always that one motherfucker); Nergal from […]

Vocalist Ralf Hauber and Jonny Pettersson (guitars/ bass/keys) have been slinging their twisted brand of horror death metal that is Heads for the Dead since 2017. For this album, Never Ending Night of Terror – their fourth album – Evan Daniele was called in to play the drums, and Matt Moliti is the second guitarist. […]

Not too long ago, I spoke at length about the Balls to the Wall RELOADED album that Udo Dirkschneider put out. Guess what? I loved it. C’mon, that’s such a great album, the defining songs of a generation. Is Babylon just as killer as that album? Yes, but in its own way. Allow me to […]

Hailing from the Netherlands, Terzij De Horde (loosely meaning ‘away from the horde’), is a veteran black metal band that has been around since 2010 with a slew of singles, EPs, splits, and two full-length albums up until this point. However, this album, their third, is the first time I have heard them. But will […]

So, the last time I sat down to review a 1914 record (2021’s Where Fear and Weapons Meet), the geopolitical landscape of the world was in a very different place. Suffice to say that the world just 4 years ago, even in the midst of a global pandemic, somehow seemed like much less bleak and desperate a time […]